Award for research unlocking wheat gene pool

Friday, 1 August 2008

University of 新浪彩票 plant scientist has been recognised nationally for his research aimed at increasing genetic diversity in wheat to produce new and improved varieties.

Dr Able has been awarded this year's by the , recognising important research by early career researchers (within 10 years of their PhD).

"Given that cereals account for about 70% of the world's food supply, it's imperative that continued improvements are made on today's varieties to be able to feed tomorrow's population," says Dr Able. "But the outcomes are limited by the narrow gene pool available to traditional plant breeding programs.

"We hope our research will lead to the development of specialised wheat seed collections that incorporate new genetic diversity and that, in the future, will support gene discovery, genomics and breeding programs for new higher-performing varieties."

Dr Able's research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms that control chromosome pairing and recombination during meiosis in wheat. Meiosis is part of the reproductive process at the cellular level, which is nature's mechanism for controlling genetic diversity within sexually reproducing organisms.

"We want to be able to shift genes of interest from wild